Text edited in red, new findings
Raymarine E120, new install, standalone, no radar yet, after 4h on, display went dark in daylight position, all information is here, but to dark to do any work. Changing to night position looks dark violet first, with flashlight it can be seen the PC is working normally. Software update to 5.22 no change.
Examining closely, the E120 is an embedded linux PC.

Changing the brightness has mostly no effect, but after trying in total darkness I oserved, there is faint backlight and when turning the knob (or pressing the joystickkeys), when the indicator bar reaches ~3/4" (18mm) to the right, the backlight of the keyboard goes dimm again to be off in the full right position. Ocassionally, when turnng the knob very fast left/right, the backlight of the disply comes back for a second, but only partial as there would be a flashlight on the right side below the monitor.

Boat is new, not in water yet, 13.4V as permanently the battery charger is on (designed for that) to float our 400Ah Gel-bank, 28°C all time, back of E120 is free to air in aircond room, can not overheat.

Someone had similar problems and any idea for a "field repair"? Any idea would be highly appreciated as I am in the Philippines and Raymarine service is far far away and not cheap anyway. Note, this is steady, not similar to the backlight on/off at night.

Asked Raymarine, but no reply yet.

Cruisingdad

11-17-2009 10:45 AM

Mine has a 'quirk'. It is fine if you change from night to day or day to night viewing. However, if you press the power button at night and adjust down the brightness, after a few minutes, the screen does exactly what yours does. I have to completely shut the unit off and turn it back on. I just learned to use the day/night feature versus turning the contrast down.

I would suggest booting it back up and turning the brightness all the way up via pressing the power button briefly and turning the know clockwise. Afterwards, assuming that does not work, with the brightness all the way up, shut down and turn back on. If it still does not work, you are probably screwed.

THey say that electronics typicall go out in the first 30 days if they are going to go out. Looks like you may have gotten one of those if what I suggested does not work.

Brian

blubaju

01-16-2010 12:37 AM

preliminary end of the story:

E120 is in the Philippines
raymarine UK suggested sending it to UK with courier, no quote until opened
raymarine US suggested sending it to US with courier, flat repair fee of 1600US$

solution:
shipped it to Hongkong company ELEKON, repair was 560US$, saved much on freight as return shipment was in a Balikbayan box (this is unique to the Philippines only)

caldwell123

04-04-2010 12:46 PM

E120 Backlight Flash

If I turn the backlight down (via power button and dial) to a very low brightness (e.g. sailing at night), the unit sometimes gives a momentary very bright flash 2-3 times in a 24 hour period. The unit then return to the dim backlight condition as if nothing happened. Any ideas?